OREANDA-NEWS. February 16, 2009. In the near future Spartak confectionary intends to restore its positions on the Russian confectionary market through the active promotion of its new brands Konfetoff and Melanie.

A reminder, two years ago Russia’s United Candymakers initiated a ban on the import of Belarusian confectionary under the Soviet brands of Alenka, the Little Red Riding Hood, Golden Key and others stating that these brands were patented by Russian manufacturers.

This situation literally pushed the country towards a large-scale production modernization. As a result, a new chocolate sweets production line was commissioned in November 2008. The investment project was estimated at USD 15 million. This line is designed to produce new brands of chocolate sweets – Melanie and Konfetoff.

The first months of operating this line proved that the chosen strategy was right. According to Alexander Danilov, in December 2008 and in January 2009 exports of Melanie sweets made up 20 tonnes and 30 tonnes respectively. Exports in February are stable too. First consignments of Konfetoff sweets have been sent to Russia.

The two brands stirred a big interest at the 16th Prodexpo-2009 international exhibition in Moscow which ended on February 13. “For many of our partners the new products have become a pleasant surprise, and we are sure that, following the talks which we have already had, the sales will pick up in the next few months,” Alexander Danilov said. This will help us make up for the losses due to the ban to export products under Soviet brands.

Taking into account the technical capacity of the new line, specialists have designed around 140 new recipes. Apart from Russia, the new products have gone on sale in Germany, Azerbaijan.

Spartak confectionary was founded in 1924. In January 1994 it was reorganized into a joint stock company and on may 29, 2008 into a joint company. With the product line featuring more than 400 descriptions, Spartak is one of Belarus’ largest confectionaries. In 2008, the output totaled 25,000 tonnes, up 10.8% from 2007.